Special CISF security for VIPs inside airports

NEW DELHI: VIPs inside airport terminals will now have a special protective ring of securitymen to avoid and deter any attacks on them inside these secure premises. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) took this decision after YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy was attacked at Visakhapatnam airport by an employee of a food joint with a knife.

“There was no security lapse in this case from security side. The person was employed by a food joint after proper police verification and had a Bureau of Civil Aviation Security airport entry pass. This happened in the check-in area and not the sterile security hold area (where passengers go after being frisked). Thursday’s incident has shown this to be another area of potential threat,” said a senior CISF official.

The agency has decided to mount extra vigil at airport lounges and VIP lounges at airports. VIPs who wait in these lounges to board their flights are served beverages and snacks by people working in food joints at airports. “What happened on Thursday is a new case, a first of its kind. This shows we need to evolve a procedure for ensuring security inside lounges and airports for people with threat perception. Whether it is frisking people going to serve VIPs in lounges or something else, we are now working on that,” added the official.